


One Last Mission

by countreycity, Garce



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Character Death, Crime Fighting, Happy Ending, Hospitals, Hydra (Marvel), M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-World War II Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers, Protective Natasha Romanov, Red Room (Marvel), SHIELD, Sad Ending, Stabbing, Two Endings, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 09:57:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17281904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/countreycity/pseuds/countreycity, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garce/pseuds/Garce
Summary: Bucky Barnes goes on his last mission as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and trouble ensues.I (Garce) wrote the bulk of this (The entire first part) with the first ending and my beta reader and one of my best friends decided it was "way to sad" so you guys get a happy ending too. There will be a mark with "***" that marks a coda basically. After you read the first ending you can go back and read the second one.Playlists in end notes





	One Last Mission

It started out as a normal mission. It really was nothing more than taking out a few guards in an old Hydra base that had been on Shield’s radar for a few weeks. It really only should have taken Bucky an hour. He was in touch with Natasha back at the compound who was relaying him information as he made his way through the base. 

  


The halls were dark, damp, and quite as Bucky silently walked them with a knife at the ready in his right hand. A sudden movement from the corner of Bucky’s left eye caught his attention and caused him to grip his knife a little tighter. He turned just in time to see a man about 6’2 and 195 pounds pulling a knife out of his pocket and jogging down a corridor towards Bucky. 

  


“Give me a second Romanov, I got company.” Bucky sighed turning towards the man.

  


Bucky reached for the gun on his left side but stopped as the man was throwing a punch. The punch caught the Bucky on his left jaw. Shaking his head a little Bucky pulled out his knife blocking the next punch the man threw at him with his left forearm and jabbing at the man's shoulder with the knife.  _ Inhibit ability, kill only if necessary. Potential information from this man. _

  


Bucky rotated and shifted forward throwing a punch with his left arm that clipped the man in the temple on the right side of his face. The collision with the metal arm drew blood that was slowly beginning to drip right below the man’s eye. The man went to throw another punch that Bucky dodged by ducking slightly allowing him to drive a knife into the man's lower right thigh. The man yelped in pain as Bucky pulled the knife out wiping it on the side of the man’s pants as he fell to the ground. Bucky picked up the man with his left arm and pinned him to the wall removing the man’s weapons from his person.

  


“Where is project 15704 taking place.” Bucky demanded holding the man by the collar of his tac gear.

  


“I ain't gotta tell you shit. You’re nothing but a failed experiment. Tell S.H.I.E.L.D. and your boyfriend to suck my—” 

  


Bucky tighten his grip on the man shifting his hand from the man’s collar to his neck applying more pressure squeezing where is trachea was. “Why don’t you try again.” Bucky spoke venom dripping from his voice.

  


“I said no.”

  


Bucky’s grip around the man tightened as he watched the man begin to struggle and gasp slightly from the lack of oxygen. He had all the time to wait him out, and if he died at least he got to see another Nazi die. Fifteen seconds later the man gave in. “ Hallway… take it...all the way down a-and take a left at c-corridor F, second right from here. Lab is all the way down.” The man staggered as he was gasping for air.

  


Bucky turned around putting his knife back before drawing his gun and putting a bullet in the man’s foot. Bucky walked down the the halway following the man’s directions keeping his gun up as he walked cautious of any more surprise guards. Bucky reached the end of the corridor and found a lab. He inspected the lab from outside a window on the door careful to examine all possible exits and look for any personal within the lab. He found three doors, the one he was currently standing at, one on the south side of the lab between to tanks of green liquids and one on the west side of the lab that was on the second level. 

  


Bucky punched the hinges of the door breaking them to obtain entrance into the lab. He walked in and plugged the flash drive Natasha had given him and dragging in all the files while surveying the room for any hidden guards, snipers, or scientists. Bucky was finishing downloading the last file onto the hard drive when he heard multiple sets of heavy footsteps coming towards the lab. Pulling his gun out Bucky faced the door that he came in waiting for the fight to come to him. 

  


Out of the corner of his eye he could see the monitor glowing  **_DOWNLOAD 96% COMPLETE…_ **

Before he could think anything else about the hard drive or the files on it Bucky heard gunshots ring out. Bucky raised his gun scanning the room to see where the shots were coming from. 

  


_ Two men upper deck coming from west entrance.  _ Bucky turned to face them shooting one who fell to the ground as the other scurried behind something still pointing his gun and firing at Bucky. Two more were coming in from the doorway that he broke down. Bucky took cover behind the monitors and lab equipment looking back up at the screen  **_98% COMPLETE…_ **

  


“Fucking Eh” Bucky sighed shooting a man who was on the main level with him that was hiding behind a tank. The man on the upper level was getting into position to take his shot when Bucky saw the monitor change to  **_99% COMPLETE…_ **

  


Bucky took his shot, he hit the pipes near the man causing clouds of gas to surround the man. Before he made a run for it Bucky shot three more pipes and one guard in the knee before grabbing the fully downloaded harddrive from the computer and shoving it in his pocket. Bucky jumped over the table and headed out the south exit, throwing open the door and making a run for it. The was a quinjet waiting for him a quarter of a mile from the base in an empty field ready to take him back to Avengers compound.

  


“Romanov you still there?”

  


“I’m here Barnes I take it you have the hard drive. What is your ETA to make it to the jet?”

  


“I’ll be there in three minutes I can see the door to exit the base now.”

  


Bucky was running down the hallway and was about six-hundred feet from exit when something hit him, “FUCKING FUCK.” Bucky yelped as a pain rose is in his left thigh. He limped out of the compound only to be faced with two more agents. Both of which were armed with knives. With his last bullet Bucky shot the larger of the two in the knee before running his best towards the slightly smaller agent.

  


“Barnes, is everything okay? Do you need backup?”

  


“Not yet Romanov, just an inconvenience at the moment.” Bucky grits as he takes a punch to the ribcage.

  


“Doesn’t sound like it, I can be there in twenty. There is a med kit on the jet.” Bucky listens as he throws a punch with his right arm to throw a jab at the guy followed by an uppercut just underneath his jaw. The man stumbles a few feet from Bucky but regains his composure and staggering back to his feet running towards Bucky while he is looking for the direction back to the quinjet. Bucky notices the knife coming towards him too late as it embeds itself in the back  of his upper right shoulder. Bucky hissed in pain, and threw one of his knives back at the man. The knife embedded itself in the upper thigh of the man who fell to the ground.

  


“Barnes?”

  


“I’ll be there in two minutes Romanov.” Bucky gritted out in response.

  


Bucky began to run as best as he could to the treeline to make it back to the quinjet when he heard a gunshot ring out before a searing pain in his abdomen brought him to his knees. Bucky gasped in breath trying to slow his breathing and staggered back to his knees.

  


“Romanov, program jet, compound address… I can get there but need the help—gotta get back fast.”  Bucky demanded as he ran with what energy and physical ability he had left. A trail of crimson followed him across the green grasses and dirt of the tree lines. With each step Bucky could feel his breathes becoming shorter and sharper as his lungs and stomach burned. The hatch to the jet opened upon Bucky’s arrival. He crawled to the control panel resting his hand on the dash prompting the hatch to close and the jet to take off towards the Avengers compound in New York.  _ Twenty minutes.  _

  


“Romanov? I’m on the jet... have medical when I land, speed up the jet , I’ll do best t’a stop blood loss.” Bucky heaved pulling out the large medkit in the back of the plane. Sprawling it out across the back of the plane and grabbing isopropyl alcohol, large tweezers, gauze, ace bandages, and scissors.

  


Bucky began to treat the wound in his stomach first. The bullet went in and out clean. Dumping alcohol on the wound and placing gauze over it Bucky grabbed three ace bandages and wrapped them tightly around his abdomen in attempt to slow the bleeding. It had been five minutes since Bucky got on the quinjet and he was beginning to feel dizzy and nauseous. His breaths were becoming shallower as he continued to attend to his wounds. 

  


“Nat?”

  


“Barnes are you—”

  


“Get me through to Steve now?” Bucky half begged half demanded

  


“Bu-”

  


“Now. s’ urgent.” Bucky hissed

  


“He’s in a meeting, give me a second.”

  


Bucky pulled the bullet from his thigh dumping the rest of the first bottle of alcohol on it before wrapping it tightly in two more bandages. Bucky reached for another bottle of alcohol removing the cap and using his mouth to get the protective cover off. He yelled in pain as he pulled the knife from his shoulder and and carefully pressed a pad with alcohol on the wound when Steve began speaking in his ear.

  


“Buck what's going on? You okay? I was in a meeting with Fury, Nat said it was urgent-s’what's goin on? You h—” Steve rambled on his tone confused and concerned.

  


“Stevie, I need ya…tell me a story.” Bucky breathed out as he began wrapping his arm. His head was throbbing and hands shaking as he wrapped the last bandage around his arm.

  


“I- um okay Buck. Remember that time before the war, uh you and me, we went down to the riverfront an’ sat on the pier all day. I drew the lake, you, the birds anything I could cause it s’was it was the first day you had off from the docks in three months. Was hot as hell an’ I couldn’t be bothered by noen of it  ‘cause I had you. ‘Ya laid there, your fat head in my lap all day soakin’ in the sun like a big house cat.” Steve recalled. Bucky smiled remembering that day. It was one of the best days of his life. It was a place that no one really knew about so they weren't worried about sitting so close together and being in each others company.

  


“It was um... “ Steve cleared his throat.

  


“I s’was the last thing I thought of when I took the plane down. I thought ‘bout haven your big ugly mug with me. We could spend the rest’ our days like that in heaven. You and me. When I-when I hit the water it was so cold an’ I thought how warm it was that day an’. Buck are you okay?” Steve squeaked out at the end. Bucky could hear Steve holding his breath.  _ Five minutes, five minutes and he would be back at the compound. _

  
  


“Yeah. Stevie. U’m fine ‘cus you.” Bucky slurred laying his head down on the floor of the quinjet.

  


“Steve?” Bucky mumbled.

  


“Yeah Buck… ’M here, not goin’ anywhere.” Steve choked on a sob he was holding. He knew Bucky wasn’t dumb, he knew this might be his last conversation with him.

  


“Stevie, love you. Love you so much it hurts, but no cryin’ for me love.”Bucky slurred

  


“Love you then, now, til’ end of line... more than anythin’... Stevie?”

  


“Yeah Buck?”

  


“You my best… guy-” Bucky coughed into his arm seeing a little blood clump onto his tac gear Bucky sucked in the biggest breath he could.   
  


“Needed ya ta know it.” Bucky asks before a fit of coughing come out. Bucky can hear Steve holding back a sob as his voice cracks over the phone.

  


“I love you, so much Buck. En- end of the line an’ past pal. Hang in there, I need my best guy when he gets home cause’ I’ve never loved anyone more.” Steve confesses clearly crying now. I’m on my way down Buck. I’ll be there when you get here okay?”

  


“Um’kay Stevie love—.” Bucky disconnected the call before Steve can hear the fit of coughing that he thought would be Bucky’s last.

  


_ He knows how much I love him.  _

  


He feels the jet landing, but he’s been fighting to keep his eyes open and he lets them shut for a second as the hatch open and the S.H.I.E.L.D medical team begins yelling while hoisting Bucky onto a medical board and gurney and running him into the medical ward of the compound as Steve watches in horror with tears streaming down his face.

  


There was yelling from medical personal, beeping of machines, and the sound of Natasha calling after Steve as he ran down the hall to follow the medical team, but none of these were as loud as the thoughts running through Steve’s head. _ Bucky knew. He knew he was probably going to die, he knew it could be the last time he would talk to Steve, and he was alone. He was scared, hurt, and fading.  _

  


_ He was alone. _

  


Steve backed himself up against the wall across from the room where the medical staff began to work on treating Bucky. Steve slowly slid down the wall until he was sitting on the cool tile with his head in his hands as he tried to control his breath and slow the tears that were streaming down his cheeks. He felt a familiar presence next to him prompting him to hide his face further into his hands.

  


“Want me to stay or come back.”

  


“T-two hours… then get me.”

  


***

  


Ten minutes later the doctors and nurses in the room exited the room looking somber and avoiding making eye contact with Steve. Dr. Cho looked up at Steve and began to speak when Steve nodded “S’okay I know” Steve hiccuped looking down towards her, as if not hearing someone confirm what he already knew would reverse reality. 

  


“I… I” Steve sucked in a shaky breath before pointing at the door looking back to Dr. Cho for her approval to enter the room where Bucky laid  _ dead _ . She nodded looking back at Steve with sadness and pity in his eyes, looks he’d known all too well. He got them when he was sick, when his ma died, when Bucky fell, and when he had his breakdown after his dethaw.

  


“He did everything he could to make it back to you Steve. He did everything right, but there just wasn’t enough time.” She sighed watching Steve as he approached the door to the exam room. Steve nodded in acknowledgement not trusting words to come out of his mouth.

  


When he got to the door he paused, sucked in a deep, shaky breath before pushing the door handle down and walking into the room. Nothing he did could prepare him for what he saw when he opened the door. His best friend,  _ the love of his life _ laid on a hospital bed face pale, hair tousled and crusted with blood, and bloodstained hands. Steve’s body shook slightly as he stood plastered himself to the door. His eyes darted from the bed to Bucky to the walls to the monitors, never looking at something for more than three seconds. Tears were still streaming down Steve’s face, and his eyes were red and starting to get puffy making it harder and harder for Steve to see in front of him.

  


Steve took one large step forward to put himself at the end of the bed. Bucky was still in his combat gear from the waist down. Steve careful unlaced the black combat boots Bucky had on,  _ He always hated when I wore shoes on the bed. _ Placing the shoes on the the floor next to the bed Steve began to slowly move in shuffles towards the top of the bed. He examined the bullet wound in Bucky’s stomach and the dried blood crusting on his skin. Steve moved to touch it before pulling his hand back and holding it as he stifled a sob in his throat.

  


Moving up towards the head of the bed Steve reaches out and holds Bucky’s right hand rubbing his thumb over Bucky’s hand, it always helped Steve maybe it would...no, not this time.

  


Steve brought Bucky’s hand to his lips pressing a gentle kiss to his knuckles before examining the knife wound on his upper shoulder running his fingers along the lines of split open skin. Steve waited a moment before looking at Bucky’s face for the first time since he had walked into the room. His eyes were closed, hair tousled and crunchy, with a bruise running along his jaw, and a split lip. Steve whipped his cheeks with the back of his hands before looking over at the sink in the corner of the room. Steve walked to the sink and grabbed a light blue towel from the cabinet above soaking it in hot water and partially wringing it out over the sink. Walking back over to the side of the bed Steve began washing the the clumps of blood out of Bucky’s hair,  _ Always wanted your hair to look good, spend an hour on ya hair gettin’ ready just ta go to the store. _

  


After the blood chunks were out of Bucky’s hair Steve cleaned the blood off of Bucky’s face and hands before setting the towel in the sink. Steve moved the chair next to the bed and held Bucky’s flesh hand in between his hands while resting his head against the bed railing. For the first time since he had come out of the ice Steve allowed himself to be truly vulnerable, mourn, and weep.

  


Steve stayed like that until he cried his eyes dry, but even then he didn’t leave Bucky’s side. It took a soft knock on the door for Steve to pull himself from his thoughts. Steve weakly called out for the person to come in and put his head back down. Natasha opened the door softly pausing and taking a deep breath at the sight of a deceased Barnes in the hospital bed.

  


“You,” Steve cleared his burning throat. “You were on comms with him right?” Steve whispered.

  


“Yeah,” She said striding across the room to lay her hand on Steve’s shoulder.

  


“H-he did, did everything he could right? He tried to live right?” Steve sniffled out looking up towards Natasha.

  


“Yeah, yeah he did. Tried to get back here as fast as possible, told me to have medical waiting, told me to drag you out of your meeting. He… he did everything he could, but… but Barnes, I-I think he knew Steve.” She sighed letting a single tear fall as she looked at Barnes.

  


“He trained me, and he, he was treated like a dog. I called him  _ отец  _ once. Russian, means father, called him it on accident, and I never saw him again. They took him away and punished me for weeks. He may have mentally been the soldier all those years, but he was still Barnes in his heart.” She waited about five minutes for Steve to say anything before she spoke again. “Do you want to stay here, or do you want to-”

  


“No, I-um I lets go, could use the fresh air, and the company if you don’t mind.” Steve offered a small smile towards her as he pushed himself up from his chair. Before he left the room he gave Bucky another kiss on the knuckles and one on his forehead. Natasha left the room first allowing the two one last moment.

  


“You’ll always be my best guy Buck.” Steve mumbled holding Bucky’s hand one last time. Steve brushed Bucky’s hair out of his face before putting the chair back and washing the blood off his heads again.

* * *

  


  


T he funeral was three days later. It was a public funeral with a private burial. Bucky was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on August 12th. It didn’t rain like it does in the movies. It was sunny with the perfect amount of humidity. The thought that anything about the worst day of Steve Rogers life was perfect made him sick.

  


Steve Rogers decided that he was mad at God for that day. He was mad God let his best friend die alone, mad that Bucky suffered so much in his life, mad that for some sick twisted reason the weather was perfect, but more than anything Steve Rogers was mad that God didn’t take him too, and that God let Steve’s line of life continue.

  


Steve tried to shut his mind off for as much of the funeral as he could, ultimately his facade worked until he had to speak. As he walked to the front to the room and stood at the podium. Steve rubbed this thumb over the pair of dog tags in his pants pocket before taking a deep breath and looking at the people, cameras, and reporters in the room. Steve tried to turn the emotional part of his brain off before starting his eulogy.

  


“I want to thank you all for coming. Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes would roll his eyes at me for calling him that, so let me tell you about Bucky Barnes. Buck was my best friend, he… he was the love of my life. I never realized that until I woke up from the ice, but when I woke up it wasn’t the same. Everything was different but everything felt different too, I could never put it into words. He was the best person I’ve ever met, a real give you the shirt off his back kind of guy.” Steve chuckled remembering one time when they were in high school and went to the beach, Steve was burnt red as a fire hydrant and Bucky being who he was took his shirt off and made Steve wear it the whole way home. That night they got yelled at when Sarah Rogers caught them cutting aloe leaves of her plant.

  


“He was always there for me when we were kids, never left my side. When I was in the hospital, he spent his time trying to cheer me up, would do his homework in my room, tell me what happened at school and what he learned. Words could never do justice to the kind of person he was. The history books always give him a nod to honor, ‘Bucky Barnes the man that was Captain America’s best friend, right-hand man and the only Howling Commando to give his life.’ That is where the history books are wrong, he was so so much more. He was a hell of a lot braver than anyone else that was over there. Never spoke about what happened to him, even when it woke him up at night… always said he was okay. He put himself last every damn time, always making sure everyone was okay before he even thought about himself. He was the real Captain America.” Murmurs and shuffling filled the room as reporters scurried to get the quote down. Steve waited because Bucky Barnes deserved every ounce of their attention and more.

  


“Even now in the modern world he was still Bucky to me. After the fight in D.C. he...he was painted a criminal for the crimes that he committed while he wasn’t himself. When he came back to live with me he would always ask me if it was his fault, and why he was such a bad person. The things Hydra did to him haunted him for the rest of his life. Nobody would let him forget what he did, and it broke his heart.” Steve was holding back the tears that were brimming in his eyes at this point.

  


“At the end of the day, he was the same man that I fell  in love with in Brooklyn, in World War II, and in the modern era. He was still twice the man that I ever was, and if anyone deserves a happy ending it was him, but the world is cruel sometimes. If Buck were here today he would say that it’s okay, because that’s what Buck did. Bucky Barnes deserved the entire world, but the world could never do anything deserve someone as great as him.” Steve left the podium  shedding a single tear and returned to his seat next to Natasha as he sat through the rest of the ceremony feeling numbness in his body and sadness in his heart. When they returned to New York Steve took a month leave of absence from S.H.I.E.L.D., from Avenging, and from Captain America. No one really knows where he went for most of his time off, but the few pictures that were found of him were on a pier in Brooklyn, New York. Steve had a sketchbook in hand and looked at vaguely at peace.

  
  
  


* * *

  


  


**_Excerpt from: New York Times: The Greatest Love Story to Ever Happen on Earth_ **

_ Written by: Baylee Campbell August 24th, 2021 _

  


Captain Steven Grant Rogers, better know to the American people as Captain America, would give his life while on a mission with the Avengers three months after the death of Sergeant James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes.

  


It was Captain Rogers sixth mission back from leave after the death of his best friend and love of his life. Fellow Avengers Natasha Romanov and Sam Wilson we’re on mission with Captain Rogers when he passed.

  


Romanov said “He turned off his comms. He never told us he was hurt, and he never called for help. He was alone, he didn’t want the backup. Never gave us a location, he knew we would go after him, and he knew that it would only get us all killed. I have the utmost respect for Steve and his decision, I just wish it did not have to end that way. Him and Barnes were two of the most important people in my life, and losing them both like that... They laid down their lives so we could have ours.”

  


The autopsy report says that Captain Rogers died on November 6th 2019 in a rural town in the state of Missouri, but you ask me Steve Rogers really died on August 9th, the same day as James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes.

  


Every year since S _ tark Industries  _ shuts down all operations on August 7th. The Avengers all take the day off (barring an emergency) and spend it on a pier in Brooklyn, New York. The pier appears to be a few blocks from where Rogers and Barnes childhood home is. The significance of the date and the pier is unknown to the public.

  


The two super soldiers had given so much to the world that we live in. They gave their lives, and if you ask me I would say they gave us the greatest love story to ever grace Earth.

  
  
  
  
  


Alternate ending (because the Beta Reader has a heart)

  


Everything had faded to black. The world was silent, cold, and dark and so so lonely. Bucky guessed this must be the hell assassins go to. There was nothing to see, nothing to do, or to watch, and though as an assassin can sit for hours on end like how he was trained this void of nothingness but him on edge. The silence around Bucky almost hurt it was piercing despite having no sound. He couldn't move or tell even if his eyes were opened or closed. This was it this was the end of the line, Bucky thought, Steve would be alone, Bucky could never be his best guy again. He could never have his six again. Never save his sorry ass again. Could never throw the couch cushions on the floor to sleep again. Never say I love you again. The dying itself didn’t hurt Bucky it was the fact that he was leaving Steve by himself again that did. This nothingness and the fact that he had failed Steve and left him alone yet again were the regrets Bucky held onto, thought about, and pondered for oh so long in this void.

  


Bucky’s love for Steve was not something that came around this century. Bucky he had loved Steve since they were kids in Brooklyn. Ever since Bucky had first met Steve he knew that this was his best friend for the rest of his life. When he started developing feelings for Steve, and Steve returned them Bucky knew he was the one he was going to spend the rest of his life in love with with. The hospital trips, fights, and being dirt poor were all worth it for his Stevie. Even halfway around the world from their tiny apartment home, after Bucky left for the first time, the two of them were a pair. After Azzano, when they would fight together Bucky would always be there watching Steves back, having his six, keeping him from being too irrational in his choices. Until that day with the train, when Bucky left yet again he was there for Steve. The whole time he was Winter Soldier something in him knew he loved Steve. And when they met and fought no matter how much his messed up HYDRA brain of his wanted to hurt Steve his love for him won. Once he started to repair post the terrible horrors of DC, they became the old set of best friends, lovers, and teammates they once were, only more broken. But now, now he was leaving his Steve forever with no chance for return. He wanted to tell him one more time he loved him. One more time that they were together till the end of the line, but he couldn't Steve had to go on his own and this was the end of the line for Bucky, and Steve well Steve.  _ He was alone _ .

  


Steve would mourn him, spend the hours after Bucky died crying for him. Say something sweet and oh so perfect at his funeral. Probably go on about their time before the war together or how Bucky was oh so perfect. In reality Steve was the perfect one. He always stood up for the little guy and had the world on his shoulders carrying it so well. He would cry, and try not to show it to the world, Bucky knew. He always didn't like anyone other than Bucky to see him cry. Bucky knew his death would wreck Steve but he didn't have any other choice he was gone, their love could be remembered but Steve was on his own now.

  


The silence that had surrounded Bucky for so long was pierced by beeping, a consistent piercing noise after what felt like years. Then came the muffled voices. Now Bucky was confused, were there other people in this messed up hell, how could they talk? The noise then faded out, as suddenly as it came, and back into the nothingness of prior was Bucky. But after sometime the noise reappeared again. Mumbles became words not clear but more defined, and behind them the sound of someone crying. The sounds of motion, comotion, and footsteps were next things Bucky could hear but he still couldn't move to them all it was was sounds in the dark abyss.

“He wouldn’t want to be stuck like this forever you have to let go, it will be better for him.” The voice saying this was feminine and sounded very familiar came into his world of black.

  


A deep masculine voice that sounded so much like his Steve only so much more distraught. “There still is a chance, I can't let him go. I won’t. He still has a chance to make it. You will not touch him!”  A loud commotion then surrounded Bucky with more yelling and motion so loud it hurt Bucky. “No! Bucky, please we need to save Bucky you can’t kill him. Bucky I love you, please  _ please _ .” Was Bucky still alive? That voice with so much sadness so much angst was that his Steve?

  


“Steve, it has been a month. There has been no brain activity. No movement no anything. We need to let him go, he is already gone this, this keeping him alive is only for us. Let him be at peace, let him go. You know he wouldn’t want this” 

  


“Natasha,  **no** . I am not letting him get pulled off of life support. I can not let him just die when there is a chance, no matter how small of him surviving.” So the feminine voice was Natasha and Bucky wasn't dead he must be in a coma. How was he not dead? The amount of blood loss he had the tearing of his organs meant absolutely no chance of survival. Hope started to rise in his chest he could be with Steve again, be by his side tell him he loves him again. There was a chance to have Steve again, but then it came crashing down around him, he wasn't going to get that chance. They were pulling his life support or so Natasha said. There was a part of him that just wanted to let go and die like how he planned before hope Steve could find some peace after their love, but a greater part was optimistic, for the chance to be with Steve, say ‘I love you’ he could try to live for this. He wanted to scream out ‘I'm still alive Steve, I am still here,’ but he couldn't even move. 

  


“One more scan please, please just one more. I don’t care how small a chance of him waking up, there still is a chance and I need him, I need him to make it.” Steve was crying and his voice fell to barely above a whisper as he finished, he was giving up on Bucky but Bucky was not about to let him.

  


“One more scan and then we have to Rogers, please then we let go for Bucky's sake.” Natashas voice was quite as she said this, softer kinder even than anything Bucky had heard her speak before. He tried to move, to open his eyes, to speak. He couldn’t. The beeping which had now been a background noise behind the voices of Steve and Natasha increased in volume and frequency and the only talking Bucky could hear was Steve, his poor Stevie, chanting almost as if a prayer “Buck wake up for me, I love you Buck.” Bucky was trying so hard to wake up to do anything to show whatever scan they were doing to show he was here, he was awake. 

Then it all went black again. Back to the dark and cold of before, the quietness. That was it Bucky was gone, he was going to die for sure this time. It was over they would pull the life support and he would go, for sure this time. What must have been minutes, hours, days, maybe even years later, Bucky had no tell of time the black around him started fading to a gray. This is what dying felt like he guessed, it was faster and easier than falling asleep. Slowly everything started turning to white, Bucky felt calm at peace even though peace like this was something Bucky had never felt before.

  


* * *

  


  


“Buck… Bucky, Bucky, Jesus Mary an’ Joseph! Buck!”

That was Steve was yelling, his Steve. What the fuck, Steve! Bucky was supposed to be dead, he has to be. How was Steve there? This must mean Steve is dead. Bucky dies and then Steve goes and gets himself killed, that fucking punk. Bucky tries to open his eyes to see him not expecting anything but still trying, and this time unlike the other hundreds of times he had tried before they actually open. Unless what ever fucked up place Bucky was in looked like a hospital, he was alive. How? How was Steve there? His Steve right next to him crying, looking a good 10 pounds lighter, with bags under his eyes, and a tear stained face.

  


“I love you so much Bucky.” Steve says in between sobs. When Steve reached out to cup Bucky’s face, he felt the touch. He was alive, and with Steve. And after a few moments of staring at Bucky’s slowly blinking eyes Steve reaches for a cup of water next to him and with a look at Bucky for reassurance pours some water through Bucky’s cracked lips and down his throat. It almost burns as he swallows, the feeling of liquid going down so foreign to him.

  


“…m sorry” It’s the only thing Bucky can say, he should be dead but here he is with his Steve alive and now able to talk.

  


“Oh, Bucky. Hey it’s okay you’re alive, your safe, ‘M here, I love you jerk.” Nurses, doctors, and other people Bucky doesn't recognize flood into the room draggin Steve away before anything else can be said. They poke and prod, some ask questions others record answers. They give Bucky more water to help him talk and untangle the mess of cords and monitors surrounding Bucky letting him try to move. They tell him some details like he has been in a coma for over a month and a half and that he is at the compounds hospital wing. When they finally start to conclude, after an hour according to the small clock on the wall of the hospital room, they ask if he needs anything. They probably meant more water or sleep to be Bucky's answers, but the only thing Bucky asks for is Steve back. 

  


The moment the words leave his lips, a nurse goes and opens the door calling Steve in. Seconds later Steve is rushing back into the room planting a kiss desperate and hard on Bucky’s lips holding him for dear life. Others in the room start to thin out of the room leaving the two of them alone again, but they didn’t notice. They had kept kissing, staring at each other, holding each other, telling each other how much they loved the other, how sorry they are for all the little things.

  


Time passed quickly filled with being with Steve every waking hour. Their teammates came in slowly and talked to the two of them from time to time as days passed. Bucky slowly starting to get up, to eat, to move more. Over a week after he had woken up he had asked Steve what happened, with tears in his eyes, a look that was becoming frequent of Steve since Bucky’s “awakening”, he explained. “They rushed you into surgery as soon as they could, you died twice on the table but somehow they got you back. I sat there in the hallway waiting Buck, hoping you could make it through. But you never woke up from the coma you were in. For over a month we hoped, waited for you to wake up but the odds kept shrinking that you could ever wake up. We were about to pull you off of life support and ran one last test, it hurt so much but Natasha said you wouldn't want to be stuck in a coma. Somehow they found brain activity that was new, that showed you were still alive and could be conscious, that there was still a chance for you. After that it was almost another month of nothing, of waitin, until you started waking up that day. I had been sitting next to you when one of the monitors started flashing, your breathing had sped up and so did your heart. I thought you were dyin, Buck I really did, till you opened your eyes, that’s when I knew you were going to make it for sure. We had almost given up Buck, we almost let you die. I tried to fight for you, stay strong but we almost gave up, ‘M so sorry.”

  


“I know you kept fighting Steve, I heard ya and Natasha that day you almost pulled life support. I know you wanted to keep me alive, I heard you fight for one more test and tried to wake up for you, show ya I was still alive. But Natasha was right, I wouldn’t have wanted to stay like that forever. Thank you though for having hope. I love you so much Steve, till the end of the line and past punk.” Bucky had his Steve back his best guy back, he was alive and that was all that mattered.

  


**_Excerpt from: New York Times: A Retirement for Love_ **

_ Written by: Baylee Campbell _ November 5th, 2021.

  


Today marks the two year anniversary of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes waking up after a two month coma. He had been severely injured on a mission and went into a coma shortly after surgery only to wake up to the surprise of almost two months later. Shocking the world today Sergeant Barnes and his long time love Captain Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America, announced their retirement from active work with the Avengers. In a statement to the press this morning the couple explained their reasoning, Rogers remarked, “We have had so many close calls and injuries over the years. We may be super soldiers but we are still human, we need a break, a time for peace. It is hard to wake up every morning knowing it could be his or I’s last, we want a chance to love without the risk of dying.”  They both stated that they were hanging up their mantels for good, for fighting at least. “We may return to help train the next generation of heros, but until then I want to be in love with my punk in peace or at least a little less gunfire,” said Barnes. 

  


Following the miraculous recovery of Barnes after his injuries the couple became much more forward and open with their relationship. Giving the world a taste of what a love that has spanned centuries looks like. Often being recorded kissing each other before and after fights along with many other public dates and outings together, they were not afraid to show the world how in love they were. Even though most are sad to see this pair leave the limelight, all can agree after almost 100 years of fighting they deserve their break. We hope that retirement and their time away will only help their love grow, and they though having given so much to the world that we live, in even nearly their lives, can have a chance to finally relax. And we would like to thank them not only for their service to this great country but also for giving us one of the greatest love stories to ever grace the earth. 

**Author's Note:**

> Playlists  
> First ending  
> -I’ll Follow You Into the Dark- Death Cab for Cutie  
> -These Days Are Numbered- The Head and the Heart  
> -Our Love- Judah and the Lion  
> -Beloved -Mumford and Sons  
> Second Ending  
> ~Kill and Run- Sia  
> ~Don't Fear the Reaper- Blue Öyster Cult  
> ~Sigh No More- Mumford & Sons


End file.
